Greece to wait for new measures before bond issue

Greece will wait to see how markets react to tougher austerity measures demanded by the European Union before deciding on when to issue new state bonds, a government official said Tuesday.

This is classic example of probing for positive market reaction through presentation of window-dressing solutions in hopes that it solves or contains the problem. Unfortunately, solutions that lack teeth provide only fodder for media coverage. This problem, like all before, will be pressed until the money is wrung out. That is, until Greece is removed from the Union or the printing press is used to stem the attack. These options, clearly, have been avoided because of their obvious consequences.

If nothing else, this should serve a fresh reminder to the US, a country facing similar problems from within, that the markets are always in control. No amount of lip service or money provided by pools of protective groups can protect a weak position.

Source: finance.yahoo.com

Shark attacks plunge, recession cited

Shark attacks along U.S. coastal waters fell sharply in 2009, according to an annual report released Monday, and the scientist behind the data thinks the reason could have been the weak economy.

"Florida’s population hasn’t gone down," Burgess said, "so I suppose the economy could have had an effect on how many times people can afford to put gas in their cars and go to the beach.”

Such economic reasoning suggests a career change to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) might be forthcoming. Sorry, I do not have any shark attack charts to to refute this analysis.

Source: msnbc.msn.com

Tanzanian Rty Explr Co (TRE)

TRE provides an exellent port hole to the conflict building within the gold mining space. Many investors have come to believe that the gold shares, even the good ones, will fail to realize their leverage to gold despite the lessons from history. There are others, though, the ones that control the tape, that are quietly accumulating their position for the coming mark-up phase. The conflict appears onside because on side is vocal while the other, quite wisely, is quiet.

Following symmetry, TRE tapped out of the three taps and out in January. This was confirmed by sharp, mini-run in late January that was followed by the "Hit". Hits, often well organized, suggest that run needed to stopped. Stamp out the fire before it turns to a conflagration, so to speak. And, so is was. The money wasn't ready. The REV, cumulative force of the tape, however, reveals the true bias within the conflict. The force behind the tape is increasing. It has already clipped the Barron's gap and the first tap.

"The violence in gold (gold shares too) will light your teeth on fire, Jim Sinclair" - that's about 1670C. Get ready.

Tanzanian Rty Explr Co (TRE)

Financials

Those that propose that the stock market has been saved by mergers in 2010 are probably surprised by the fact the financials continue to struggle. Not only do they continue to underperform most sectors and but also exhibit decreasing volume during the rally.

DJ US Financials ETF (IYF):


Volume has contracted as overhead gaps have been filled and swing highs exceeded. This is an indication of the declining force behind the tape. This won't be obvious until some event happens that makes it obvious in retrospect.

Stock Market Would Be Lost This Year Without Mergers

The majority of top performers in the S&P 500 (INDEX: .SPX) this year are as the result of a takeover, keeping a teetering stock market near the unchanged mark for 2010 in the face of fears of a global debt crisis, continued problems with the the U.S. consumer and higher interest rates.

Good thing the world still has access to cutting edge commentary intended to redirect, direct, the lemmings towards the cliff. If misdirection is the only solution, than at least entertain us.

Hey! It's all ball bearings nowadays. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads. And I'm gonna need 'bout ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State. Fletch (1985).

The market has consistently found direction from the dollar since 2000.

U.S. Dollar Index vs SPY 500:


Source: finance.yahoo.com

Buffett says economy recovering but at slow rate

Billionaire Warren Buffett said Monday the economy is improving but at a very slow rate and consumers are still not spending much, so job growth will remain slow.

What Buffett doesn't say is that a consumption dependent economy will always struggle to produce high-paying jobs. This is why the housing market was/is so important in the United States. As home prices saw no limit behind easy credit and unrealistic assumptions, consumers used the illusion of wealth (home equity) to spend more from 2003 to 2007. The increased spending, however, did not create sustainable, high-paying jobs. That is why it was often dubbed as the job-less recovery by the media.

Today, we still focus on spending and consumption, and wait for any sign of price recovery in housing market as an indication of the return of the halcyon days of consumption-driven GDP growth. Securitization of debt and structured products collapse as all but stopped the credit Juggernaut. As a result, there will be no speedy return. As long as we consume and pay with paper, liquidity based recoveries will always be synonymous with jobless recoveries.

Source: finance.yahoo.com

Soros Signals Gold Bubble as Goldman Predicts Record

“When interest rates are low we have conditions for asset bubbles to develop, and they are developing at the moment,” Soros said at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January. “The ultimate asset bubble is gold,” he said.

It's ironic the ultimate form of sound money is often discussed in terms of the "ultimate bubble", when history clearly defines it (the ultimate repeating bubbles) as fiat money. News wire stories, even market masters, always seem to get selective amnesia about the historical lessons of fiat money. It's not surprsing. The greater vested interest in the current system, regardless of its inherent instability, the harder it gets to remember.

Source: bloomberg.com